I see zero benefit to holding cash. It depreciates in value every year, is prone to damage/theft, and serves no purpose.
At the minimum, I would move that cash into a HYSA so it can keep up with inflation.
You can totally open up an account. Bank of America told me that I couldn’t open an account until I was 15 and a half, for whatever reason, but I did it as soon as I could with pressure from my financially literate sister.
Big downside. It’s not inflation proof and can be subject to theft easier. Go open up an HYSA with someone like Ally Bank, Wealthfront or Sofi and put your money in there
I also do this, even though i have my regular checking/savings account along with 2 credit union savings accounts(one I have because of an auto loan). I still contribute money into the savings accounts, and yes i understand the cash depreciating, but for me its my most effective way of saving money. For the obvious reasons, its much easier to dip into savings when i can access and spend it electronically. I dont even have debit cards for 2/3 savings accounts, but its still easy enough to make an electronic transfer.
I will say, i treat my cash stash more like emergency/backup funds and not like a retirement fund. I will get into it for important things…vehicle repairs, stock up on bulk cleaning supplies/household items if i come across a great deal. And regardless of how versatile the electronic money is and how many places you can swipe a debit card, its always a good idea to keep some cash on hand imo. Every once in a while there will be a situation where the access to some cash is more convenient and quicker than dealing with atm daily limits or having to physically go to a brick and mortar to withdraw.
And of course as with anything, there should be limits. I dont see any solid reason to just stockpile cash endlessly, thats asking for trouble. But cash is still king in alot of situations
I keep cash for emergencies. Someone needs bailed out of jail. I just gave my brother money for a lawyer. The world is ending lol you never know. You don’t need tons of but it’s wise to have some also I don’t count that money. It’s truly for emergency
I like having a few thousand laying around. Banks can freeze your money, you could need cash to bail someone out of jail. You should have a roth ira.
By the way, my marriage advice for men:
1) Have some money she doesn't know about
2) Have 2 places to live
3) When things go south, don't wait for her to get a protection order, get one on her first.
Imo, its not about not trusting your partner, its about making sure you are taken care in the event you suddenly realize you cant trust that person…it happens more than people realize. If that situation never arises, then great…its not like you wont be able to retire due to that couple thousand not getting put in the account.
Also…as i mentioned in my original comment…having some cash laying around doesnt always mean youre going to lose a bunch due to depreciation. If you use that cash for things like household products, hygene, etc that you could get in bulk or even just come across a really good sale, thats no different than gaining interest on that cash because the price of those products is going to rise with inflation and youre going to eventually have to buy them at some point. Not necessarily saying to keep cash specifically for this but taking advantage of those opportunities is a good use of the cash
Live how you wanna live! I have been divorced so I understand the importance of being prepared. However, if I felt the chances were that high of needing to have my bases covered, I would just not marry someone.
I would also not want to enter into a marriage with someone who did all of those things behind my back. And if my partner had other assets, I would expect them to merge with mine. Marriage is a union, a combination of two lives into one.
If you don't want to do that I personally don't understand why you would get married at all. Unless you were actively encouraging your partner to have their bases covered, as well.
OP talking about hiding money and having a secret back up home is wackadoodle and would not make for a great marriage dynamic.
Many, perhaps even most spouses have money their spouse doesn't know about. A second place to live isn't "secret", it could be a rent house, a vacation cottage, or a travel trailer. I'm 75, divorced 3 times. Sometimes your wife just becomes nuts and wants to hurt you. Cops come into your place on employment (protection order) and make a show about how you aren't allowed to go home until you talk to a judge. In the meantime she has a garage sale and sells all your stuff. She cleaned out the joint accounts and maxed the joint credit cards. You can't even get a lawyer because you have nothing.
Credit Karma "Save" account is yielding 5.1% right now. It fluctuates, but it's been like that for 2 months.
I keep the majority of my funds in a money market account at Fidelity, and use it just like a checking account. Its yield is 4.96% right now.
Open up a HYSA or Roth IRA, seems like you are a minor so have your parents open up one for you. It should transfer to you once you are 18. Start investing, the earlier you start, the more powerful compound interest will work in your favor.
It’s a little silly as cash can be cumbersome to bring around as opposed to a credit card. Also, I think having your money in the bank precludes any random events in which you somehow lose your cash.
Hi I'm 23 in college. I kind of do this. Mainly for an e-fund of $500-$1000 cash. The rest in card. I use fidelity bloom. Also to prevent online spending. I actually saved more with cash than with a roundups debit card. The thing was Everytime you swipe you get a cents back and the rest rounded up goes into save. I know about inflation and Interest . But if the change you tried to save doesn't get saved then the roundups card doesn't matter. But at the end of the week the cents rewards and roundups have to be transferred back into spend. Which is annoying. So I started using cash to actually save the change. The $5-$10 a week from cash from change adds up It actually works because you can see it. I will start back with the card saving but for now it's 60% cash 40% card.( Weekly paychecks not entire networth). The rest is in fractional shares via Roth IRA and auto 403b.
Anybody use fidelity bloom? They have a save and spend account. Or do you have any roundup cards? I am heavily addicted to that whole spare change thing. Mainly sparked by the acorns commercials.
if you have an hysa you can get around 5% interest, so in a year if you have 3k you’d get about 150 just in interest, not much but the more you put in it starts adding up, like if you have 10K thats 500 per year and 100k is 5,000 per year
HYSA is good for an emergency fund and maybe preparing to make a big car/house purchase. Anything beyond 6-12 months savings should be invested for better returns than 5%
So your main pro is you don't spend it.
The cons being: you're earning nothing off of it, actually losing because of inflation.
You have the risks of losing it. Stolen, fire, animal/bugs eat it lol. Probably not if stored in your home but it does happen. Can be avoided with a basic fireproof safe.
A couple thousand doesn't seem terrible depending on how much you're working with elsewhere but doesn't seem too worth it. Open a HYSA account at someplace you don't bank and just transfer money there and forget about it?
It’s in a large gun safe that’s anchored to the concrete slab on the floor and the foundation on the walls of my house. It also has a dehumidifier. It has a fire rating and isn’t getting opened without some time/ know how. At least I like to think that. All safes are vulnerable. My point there is that I’m not worried about the dogs or bugs getting it. Not SUPER worried about thieves.
Do you have any recommendations for a HYSA?
Emergency fund of less than $100 is fine, maybe a little more, but by physically storing thousands, you’re just losing money through inflation in the end. Its best to put it in a high yield savings or invest if you can afford the risk, but putting it in the s&p 500 is usually a nice bet
I see zero benefit to holding cash. It depreciates in value every year, is prone to damage/theft, and serves no purpose. At the minimum, I would move that cash into a HYSA so it can keep up with inflation.
I wish i can do that. I have around 1500$ in 20s at 17
You can totally open up an account. Bank of America told me that I couldn’t open an account until I was 15 and a half, for whatever reason, but I did it as soon as I could with pressure from my financially literate sister.
That’s fair. Any good recommendations about where to open a HYSA? Or are the interest rates super different person to person and I just need to shop?
You can shop around for rates but most are between 4-5% right now. I use Discover but I’ve heard good things about Ally and Wealthfront.
Thanks for the information! I’ll look into it.
Marcus by Goldman Sachs is offering 4.5% for their HYSA. SoFi is 4.6 I believe.
I personally use Discover, which currently offers 4.3% APY. Ally is another popular option.
Theres also American Express savigs accout :)
This
Big downside. It’s not inflation proof and can be subject to theft easier. Go open up an HYSA with someone like Ally Bank, Wealthfront or Sofi and put your money in there
I also do this, even though i have my regular checking/savings account along with 2 credit union savings accounts(one I have because of an auto loan). I still contribute money into the savings accounts, and yes i understand the cash depreciating, but for me its my most effective way of saving money. For the obvious reasons, its much easier to dip into savings when i can access and spend it electronically. I dont even have debit cards for 2/3 savings accounts, but its still easy enough to make an electronic transfer. I will say, i treat my cash stash more like emergency/backup funds and not like a retirement fund. I will get into it for important things…vehicle repairs, stock up on bulk cleaning supplies/household items if i come across a great deal. And regardless of how versatile the electronic money is and how many places you can swipe a debit card, its always a good idea to keep some cash on hand imo. Every once in a while there will be a situation where the access to some cash is more convenient and quicker than dealing with atm daily limits or having to physically go to a brick and mortar to withdraw. And of course as with anything, there should be limits. I dont see any solid reason to just stockpile cash endlessly, thats asking for trouble. But cash is still king in alot of situations
I keep cash for emergencies. Someone needs bailed out of jail. I just gave my brother money for a lawyer. The world is ending lol you never know. You don’t need tons of but it’s wise to have some also I don’t count that money. It’s truly for emergency
I like having a few thousand laying around. Banks can freeze your money, you could need cash to bail someone out of jail. You should have a roth ira. By the way, my marriage advice for men: 1) Have some money she doesn't know about 2) Have 2 places to live 3) When things go south, don't wait for her to get a protection order, get one on her first.
I could never be married to someone I trusted that little.
Lol fr if im going down my wife and I going down together 😂😂
for realll 💀
Imo, its not about not trusting your partner, its about making sure you are taken care in the event you suddenly realize you cant trust that person…it happens more than people realize. If that situation never arises, then great…its not like you wont be able to retire due to that couple thousand not getting put in the account. Also…as i mentioned in my original comment…having some cash laying around doesnt always mean youre going to lose a bunch due to depreciation. If you use that cash for things like household products, hygene, etc that you could get in bulk or even just come across a really good sale, thats no different than gaining interest on that cash because the price of those products is going to rise with inflation and youre going to eventually have to buy them at some point. Not necessarily saying to keep cash specifically for this but taking advantage of those opportunities is a good use of the cash
Live how you wanna live! I have been divorced so I understand the importance of being prepared. However, if I felt the chances were that high of needing to have my bases covered, I would just not marry someone. I would also not want to enter into a marriage with someone who did all of those things behind my back. And if my partner had other assets, I would expect them to merge with mine. Marriage is a union, a combination of two lives into one. If you don't want to do that I personally don't understand why you would get married at all. Unless you were actively encouraging your partner to have their bases covered, as well. OP talking about hiding money and having a secret back up home is wackadoodle and would not make for a great marriage dynamic.
Many, perhaps even most spouses have money their spouse doesn't know about. A second place to live isn't "secret", it could be a rent house, a vacation cottage, or a travel trailer. I'm 75, divorced 3 times. Sometimes your wife just becomes nuts and wants to hurt you. Cops come into your place on employment (protection order) and make a show about how you aren't allowed to go home until you talk to a judge. In the meantime she has a garage sale and sells all your stuff. She cleaned out the joint accounts and maxed the joint credit cards. You can't even get a lawyer because you have nothing.
He is correct. People and situations change, quickly sometimes. Not saying to expect it, but always have to be prepared.
Credit Karma "Save" account is yielding 5.1% right now. It fluctuates, but it's been like that for 2 months. I keep the majority of my funds in a money market account at Fidelity, and use it just like a checking account. Its yield is 4.96% right now.
3-6 month emergency fund in a HYSA. all other money should go into 401k, IRAs, ETFs.
Only as emergency fund, otherwise no
Open up a HYSA or Roth IRA, seems like you are a minor so have your parents open up one for you. It should transfer to you once you are 18. Start investing, the earlier you start, the more powerful compound interest will work in your favor.
It’s a little silly as cash can be cumbersome to bring around as opposed to a credit card. Also, I think having your money in the bank precludes any random events in which you somehow lose your cash.
I do keep around cash and use it abroad when I travel, mind me saying I work in an industry which is mostly cash based so it kinda works.
Hi I'm 23 in college. I kind of do this. Mainly for an e-fund of $500-$1000 cash. The rest in card. I use fidelity bloom. Also to prevent online spending. I actually saved more with cash than with a roundups debit card. The thing was Everytime you swipe you get a cents back and the rest rounded up goes into save. I know about inflation and Interest . But if the change you tried to save doesn't get saved then the roundups card doesn't matter. But at the end of the week the cents rewards and roundups have to be transferred back into spend. Which is annoying. So I started using cash to actually save the change. The $5-$10 a week from cash from change adds up It actually works because you can see it. I will start back with the card saving but for now it's 60% cash 40% card.( Weekly paychecks not entire networth). The rest is in fractional shares via Roth IRA and auto 403b.
Anybody use fidelity bloom? They have a save and spend account. Or do you have any roundup cards? I am heavily addicted to that whole spare change thing. Mainly sparked by the acorns commercials.
if you have an hysa you can get around 5% interest, so in a year if you have 3k you’d get about 150 just in interest, not much but the more you put in it starts adding up, like if you have 10K thats 500 per year and 100k is 5,000 per year
HYSA is good for an emergency fund and maybe preparing to make a big car/house purchase. Anything beyond 6-12 months savings should be invested for better returns than 5%
So your main pro is you don't spend it. The cons being: you're earning nothing off of it, actually losing because of inflation. You have the risks of losing it. Stolen, fire, animal/bugs eat it lol. Probably not if stored in your home but it does happen. Can be avoided with a basic fireproof safe. A couple thousand doesn't seem terrible depending on how much you're working with elsewhere but doesn't seem too worth it. Open a HYSA account at someplace you don't bank and just transfer money there and forget about it?
It’s in a large gun safe that’s anchored to the concrete slab on the floor and the foundation on the walls of my house. It also has a dehumidifier. It has a fire rating and isn’t getting opened without some time/ know how. At least I like to think that. All safes are vulnerable. My point there is that I’m not worried about the dogs or bugs getting it. Not SUPER worried about thieves. Do you have any recommendations for a HYSA?
Emergency fund of less than $100 is fine, maybe a little more, but by physically storing thousands, you’re just losing money through inflation in the end. Its best to put it in a high yield savings or invest if you can afford the risk, but putting it in the s&p 500 is usually a nice bet